LIV Golf revoked the media credentials of a Michigan sports broadcaster just days before its August 2025 Team Championship after he declined to remove questions about the tour’s Saudi Arabian backing from a published interview.
Bill Hobson, a 26-year veteran host of “Michigan Golf Live” and podcast personality with the Fore Golfers Network, had his approved press access stripped on August 19, three days before the tournament began at The Cardinal at Saint John’s Resort in Plymouth Township.
The decision followed an interview Hobson conducted with Pat Perez, a former tour player now working as a broadcast analyst for LIV Golf. After the conversation aired, tour officials and their public relations firm Outlyr contacted Hobson multiple times demanding he edit or delete portions addressing Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and recent leadership changes within the organization.
When Hobson refused, his credential disappeared.
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The Interview That Crossed the Line
Perez joined LIV Golf’s broadcast team for the 2025 season after finishing his playing career with the tour in 2024. During the podcast conversation, Hobson asked about the tour’s financing from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and discussed Greg Norman’s departure as CEO.
Perez answered both questions without hesitation. The interview appeared to proceed normally until LIV officials reviewed the content.
According to Hobson, a member of LIV’s public relations team later told him Perez felt “ambushed” by questions where the conversation went “places you weren’t supposed to go.” The PR representative requested Hobson pull or modify what they characterized as problematic segments.
Hobson had disclosed at the start of his podcast that he’d been “anti-LIV since it started,” making his editorial stance clear to both his audience and interview subject.
The tour made its position equally clear when it pulled his credential for the upcoming championship.
First Time in a 26-Year Career
Hobson has covered more than 100 professional golf tournaments across his career. He told The Detroit News this marked the first instance where media access was revoked after initial approval.
“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, talking about the lack of freedom, talking about the lack of tolerance, all of the things that regime is known for plays a factor in what just took place,” Hobson said. “And it’s super unnecessary. You talk about unforced errors, goodness gracious.”
He described his approach as typically “overly bland more than controversial” and maintained he’d sought nothing beyond a conversation with someone he found interesting.
LIV Golf offered him complimentary grounds passes to attend the championship as a spectator. Hobson declined, explaining standard admission wouldn’t allow him to perform his job. He spent the tournament weekend taking his grandson to the zoo instead.
LIV’s Defense Draws Criticism
The tour confirmed the credential revocation to The Detroit News and released a statement defending the decision:
“LIV Golf values open and honest dialogue with media partners and has welcomed a wide range of perspectives since our inception. We are committed to working with journalists who approach interviews with fairness, integrity, and respect for the players and the sport.”
Media observers quickly noted the contradiction between claiming to value “open dialogue” while simultaneously revoking access over editorial content.
The response generated the opposite of its intended effect. Publications including ESPN, Awful Announcing, CBS Sports, and Golf Digest covered the credential controversy extensively. What might have been a niche podcast interview became a national story about press freedom in sports journalism.
Joanne Gerstner, a sports journalism professor at Michigan State University, commented on the implications for editorial independence when covering organizations with controversial funding sources.
Leadership Transition Adds Context
The incident occurred during significant changes within LIV Golf’s management structure. Scott O’Neil officially replaced Greg Norman as CEO on January 15, 2025. Norman, who had led the tour since its 2021 formation, remained under contract through August 2025 before confirming his complete departure in September.
Interestingly, Hobson had previously interviewed O’Neil about various controversies surrounding the tour without facing repercussions. The different treatment raised questions about whether interview topics or LIV’s internal approach to media relations had shifted.
The Team Championship proceeded August 22-24, drawing approximately 40,000 fans over three days. Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team defeated Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC in a two-hole playoff to claim the title.
When Suppression Becomes the Story
Media credentials are typically denied before approval, not yanked afterward. The revocation represented an unusual sequence that amplified attention on the very subjects LIV sought to contain.
This represents a textbook demonstration of the Streisand Effect, where attempts to hide or censor information instead draw greater scrutiny. Rather than a regional podcast discussion, the credential revocation became a referendum on how sports organizations handle critical coverage when billions in controversial funding are involved.
The tour’s actions sent an unmistakable message to journalists: questions about Saudi Arabia’s role funding the operation remain unwelcome regardless of official statements about transparency.
For Hobson, a reporter who’s maintained professional standing across decades of golf coverage, the experience highlighted how quickly access can vanish when coverage conflicts with an organization’s preferred narrative. The credential revocation stands as a reminder that in sports journalism, following the money sometimes costs more than just the story.
